Manufacture of cocoa, chocolate, and the like



March 15, l l H. HoRN l j MANUFACTURE 0F COCOA, CHOCOLATE, ANI)I THE LIKE Filed Nov.' 1s, 1925 l-n um d'a 0d y I f o rd E92. F194. d p Y d in! Y: 41 e e- Il@ E f 1 l ma m5! Mw Lw@ y n.915" b lll/,0% w nwwxvb m IWW.

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d d a d H #om vm/TDR Para Mgr. 15, 1927.

rmnmlcn HORN, or naEsnEN, annum.

'IANIUFAOTURE'OF COCOA, CHOCOLATE, AND THE LIKE.'

A.Application led November 19, `1925, Serial No. 70,163, and in Germany October 22, 1924. l

This invention-relates to a beater mill with beaters revolving in chambers enclosing them, which are only open inwardly, forthe disintegration and extra line comminution of pasty` and liquid materials.

The object of the present invention is to render those beater mills in which the beaters revolve in chambers surrounding them and open only inwardly and which hitherto have onlybeen designed and` only usable for the disintegration of hard material, capable of being used for the continuous disintegration and extra line comminution of pastyand liquid materials, such as chocolate and cocoa. the walls ofl the chambers enclosing the beater heads must be providedfwith deep `corrugations or ribs, against-which the material is If it were desired to utilize this apparatus for asty and liquid material, the latter would be thrustby force for the Amost part into the large gaps between the ribs or the deep troughs ofthe corrugations and would be withdrawn from the action of the beaters.

. Hence only a low output could be obtained.

' away in a manner known'in itself, with continual renewal. This grinding action, and with it the output, are further increased aceordinglto the invention bythe -fact that the beater eads, besides a head surface ascending in the direction opposite to the direction of rotati also have lateral surfaces conver the direction of rotation, so that the yers o material driven round b them are continuallythrust against those t 'at are being held back by the walls of the chamber,

'andthe grinding pressure is thereby in- Crea the usual way at theinlet, an can only pass out of the grinding chamber in an inward direction the action of centrifugal force in a verydinely disintegrated condi- For hard material' lThe material viscontinuall delivered in` tion. The operation is therefore continuous. Coarser partlclesl cannot leave the grinding chamber, because they are driven by centrifugal force towards the outer periphery and' 'thereby retalned in the chamber until finely groun Preferably however the, beater mill is con. l structed not withfone'grindin'g 'chamber only butin a plurality of stages in a known' manner, 1n which case the material travels through successive beater sta es from the inlet to the outlet. Under t eseJ circumstances it is important that at' the outlet only very fine and extra ne material should be able to pass out 'as a final product.. On this account according to the invention the multistage beater mill is constructedwith a horizontal beater shaft, and the outlet aperture for the material is arran ed inthe wallvof the casing at the level o the beater shaft, and extends downwards therefrom, being adjustable vby means of a slide. If only extra fine material isto pass out, the slide is almost closed, because the finest material Aof'all is located near the'l shaft, where the centrifugal force is least. By opening the slide to a. greater or less degree the material can be caused to leave th'e -apparatusat the desired degree of lineness. Y

In the accompanyin drawings various constructional forms o 4 the invention are illustrated, with a horizontal beater shaft, i

Aof the beater `shaft', and is extendedy adj-ustably downwards'by means of aT slide,

If' only -extra fine material is to be dis'- the extra fine materialtakes up a osition close to theshaft, where the centri ugal ,charged thel slide is almostclosed, because force is-least. By openingthe slide' to a I greater or less extent the material can be caused to leave the apparatus with any. de-

gree of linenessl required in a particular case.

Figure lis a longitudinal section throu h a multi-stagne vation and igure 3 a plan view of a beater apparatus, Figure 2 a side e ehead, and Figures 4. and 5 are longitudinal f l sections of modified' forms of the multistage apparatus, and Figure 6`shows abeater inside elevation with a portion of thecasin partly insection.'

n Ithe. constructlonal form vvshown in Fig.

`1 in longitudinalsectionin a cylindrical casing a on a rapidly rotating-shaft b a number ofy beating arms or crosses c are mounted next to one another. The casing a is provided with end walls e and f having axial inlet and outlet openings g and h for the material. On the end wall e is a hopper z', in the end wall f a chute 7c and theend walls also support the bearings Z for the shaft b.

The axial outlet opening h in the end wall f has a radial downward extension l1. and is. regulable by an adjustable slide m, for in-l stance by means of a screw spindle a. The screw spindle n is rotatably butnot slidably supported in the usual manner in the arm g on the casing, so. that by rotating it in one direction or the other the slide m traversed by it in a screw-threaded hole is pushed up or down, for the purpose of diminishing r increasing the area of the discharge aperture h. Axial displacement in thearm g is prey vented by a collar s on the screw spindle n and theclaw-shaped head of the spindle'. Within the casing' are disc-shaped, tight fitting partitions o, whichare provided on both sides with rubbing surfaces 79. Similarly the cylinder walls between the partitions and those 'between the Ylatter and the end `walls e and f and the insides o-f the end walls, over which'the heads d of the beaters sweep, are formed as. rubbing surfaces p. The said `-surfaces of the hammer heads converge. in the direction of rotation and their end surfaces are made so as to incline upwards in the opposite direction to the direction of rotation, as is shown in Figures 2 and 3 in side elevation and plan view, so that when the,v beatersv rotate, the material is forced against the rubbing surfaces p surrounding and embracing the beater heads to both sides land towards the outside against the wall of the casing by the rubbing action of the .beater heads. 'The v material entering at g ,is caught by the beaters lying nearest to it and is driven roundalong the rubbing surfaces p with great velocity, the material forced into the rubbing surfaces and held back by the same against-the action of centri-fugal' force forming stationary grinding surfaces against which, as already described above,.the revolving layers of material grind supercially,

As fresh` material is fed in, the material travels in the axialdirection from beater tol beater towards the outlet being gradually disintegrated down to the finest state where it emerges through the outletopening 71 h. As at the outlet end the coarser particles, owing to their greatercentrifugal force, are driven away from the shaft, experience hasI shown, that onlythe most finely .disinteopening, but will remain so as to be subjected to further treatment. Hence, when the correct amountof fresh material is fed in and the apparatus is of the correct capacity continuous working will produce a continuous outflow of the veryk finely disintegrated, finished material, the separating out of the coarser constituent parts bythe action of centrifugal force being far better and more thorough than by sifting devices. If the material which has been worked through in one apparatus is to pass through further similar apparatus for the sake of beingfurther-disintegrated, it may leave the apparatus in a less fine state. In this case the slide m is opened more-or less according to.re quirement, whereby 'the opening h is left more or less unobstructed. But even in this case the operation is an uninterrupted one.

If for certain reasons, in accordance with certain requirements with respect to thematerial, it is desired to pass the material "more rapidly through the apparatus, the beaters and their heads may at the same time be given the form of axially conveying means or be provided with such.

A good and uniform axial conveyance of the material may also be obtained bythe cylindrical casing being widened in steps or conically from the inlet to the outlet, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. In this case the diameters of the beaters increase correspondingly. During the onward conveyance of the material from step to step or gradually in the case of a conical casing the velocity of movement and consequently the centrifugal force which drives the material in the direction of the increasing diameter of the apparatus increases. In lthis case' the forward drive is automatic and positive and depends on the differences in diameter.

The arrangement may also be such that cy-l lindrical and conical or stepped casing parts succeed each. other and for certain masses where it is important for the material to be made particularly fine, stagesof the largest fresh material is fedinffromthetop. e

grated material is' in the neighbourhood off' When the diameter increasesfrom the bot-- the shaft. Hence, 1f only the o-pening h around the shaft is left unobstructed,only the finest ground material will pass out. The coarser material tom to the top, the material will have to be fed in from 'the bottom, as`Y in this case the weight of the material itself cannot, asin the cannot reach the outlet former case, cause the gradual forward feed 13' to the outlet, but this will be better effected the increasing centrifugal force in opposltion to the weight of the material.

In any case the apparatus which is in itself simple and takes up little space may be adapted easily and accuratel manner to all conditions and t e building up y of the casing from separate rings and interposedapartitions, indicated in Figure 1, allowsof the parts to be made by mass production and therefore cheaply and being put together in true alignment, so that by using the bearing parts any required apparatus can be put together and delivered in jthe shortest time. When cocoa beans are to be treated in the apparatus, there should be placed in front of the first beater stage a roughing-mill of the known kind, the revolving grinding disc of which is also fixed on the beater shaft. The first beater stage will then receive the roughly `broken beans for being further dealt wlth.

What I claim is: -A '.1. A beater mill for the disintegration and extra tine comminution of pasty andl liquid materials, comprising rotatable beaters, and

chamber walls enclosing said beaters and only open inwardly, the internal surfaces of said chamber walls being formed as retarding and frictional surfaces, said 4walls uninterruptedly surrounding the beaters so closely that the material under treatment is prevented from escaping from theactio'n of said beaters, and the head surfaces of the beaters rising in the direction opposite to the direc# tion of rotation and the .lateral surfaces of said beaters converging in the direction ofy rotatlon, for the purpose ofdrivmg the layers in a simple .ofl material that are bein carriedround by ber walls being arranged to form a plurality of successive beater stages, and the internal surfaces of said chamber walls being formed as retarding and frictional `surfaces, said walls uninterruptedlysurrounding the beaters so closely that the material under treatment is prevented 'from escaping from the action ofvsaid beaters, and the head surfaces of the beaters rising in the direction 'opposite to the direction of rotation and the lateral surfaces of said beaters convergingin` the direction of rotation, for the purpose of v drivingthe Alayers of material that are being carried round by the beaters against the layers of material that are being retarded bly the chamber walls and thereby increasing t e vgrinding pressure, an inlet for the admission of material to the first beater chamber, an outlet for the discharge of material. from the last beater chamber, said outlet being arranged in the en d wall of said chamber at the llevel of the shaft and extending downwards therefrom, and an adjustable slide for partially closing said outlet.v

In testimony/whereof I have signed my name to this specification. p

' HEINRICH HORN." 

